The Day I Found You
by kpopgeek16
Summary: Tifa is your average high school girl, with a not-so-average crush on a certain blond-haired, hot-bodied best friend. But Cloud is currently hooked up with Elena...what's a girl to do when the guy you like, likes someone else? Rated M for language and later scenes. ENJOY :D


Chapter 1

"Go, Tifa! Run, run, run! _Run_!"

My feet pounded against the rubberized material of the track, my heart beating so quickly in my chest it seemed on the verge of exploding. Aerith's and Yuffie's yells and shrieking cheers followed me all the way down the lane until I finally crossed the finish line, where I promptly steered myself over to the sidelines and collapsed onto my back, chest heaving for air.

"Oh, my God! You were amazing!" Yuffie's face appeared directly overhead, grinning down at me. "I've never seen anyone run so fast! Except me, of course."

"So modest, as always." Aerith materialized beside her. Her green eyes glittered with amusement as she looked down at me, a much calmer smile on her face.

"H-How-did I…How did I do?" I managed to say between gasps.

"God dammit!" I heard a male voice yell, followed by another's laughter. Zack was clearly enjoying Reno's failure. A huge grin stole across my face.

"Does that tell you anything?" Yuffie started laughing, clutching her stomach as she flopped onto her back.

"Fuck!" came the voice again. A very pissed off-looking Reno glared down at me, Zack beside him with amusement clearly written on his face. Reno's sea green eyes narrowed. "You beat me _again_!"

"I'm—sorry," I said breathlessly, trying not to laugh. "Can't help…the fact that you suck."

"H actually almost passed you," Aerith pointed out. "But he, uh…tripped over his shoelace." She snorted, and then too collapsed into a fit of giggles. Reno's face flushed red, and it had nothing to do with the intense heat boring into our bodies.

"Where's Cloud?" I asked after my breathing had returned to normal.

Yuffie, Zack, and Aerith exchanged a look. "He, uh…" The latter bit the knuckle on her forefinger. "He had to go."

My heart plummeted. "Oh. Did he say where?"

"No…but I'm guessing it has something to do with a name starting with 'E'," Yuffie said with an eye roll.

A tight, constricting sensation spread through my chest, and this time it wasn't from the lack of air. "He left to see Elena? But…he promised he'd stay and watch me."

"Cloud promises a lot of things," Reno said sourly. He sat heavily beside me, letting out a long huff of air. "Christ, how am I going to win at tomorrow's meet if I can't even beat a girl?"

Aerith and Yuffie immediately pounced on the comment, but I wasn't focused on Reno's complaining. No matter how many times I told myself to not think about him, Cloud always found a way to intrude into my thoughts. It was your typical high school dilemma: I liked him, he liked her. And there wasn't anything I could do about it except suck it up and pretend like I was absolutely fine.

Aerith and Yuffie knew, of course. Vincent, ever the perceptive one, was in on it as well, and Zack, being Aerith's boyfriend, knew by default. It was Reno who was the clueless one.

"Don't worry about it, Teef," Yuffie whispered in my ear. "We all know Elena is a skank ho. It won't last between them."

"If Elena makes him happy, so be it," was my bland response. Of course she wasn't fooled.

Her phone buzzed a moment later, and she quickly pulled it out. "Oh, there's Vincent. Bye, guys!"

A chorus of "bye"s followed her retreating form. Zack and Aerith left about fifteen minutes after, leaving me and Reno sitting on the rubber track by ourselves, the sky steadily darkening with storm clouds overhead.

"Hey, Teef," he said suddenly, becoming fascinated with his bright green shoelaces.

"Yeah?"

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure, go for it." I leaned back on my palms, looking at him curiously. I hadn't seen Reno like this in a long time.

"How would you tell someone that you liked them? I mean, in person is a given, but, like…how?"

I gave him an "are you serious" look. "And you're asking me of all people? I can't even tell Cloud how I feel about him." I flopped onto my back with a heavy sigh. "Who knows if I ever will? He's perfectly happy with Elena…I'm not going to go ruin it."

Reno chewed on his thumbnail, a furrow in his brow. "To be honest I don't think he's really happy with her. I mean, she's a complete bitch. Always telling him what to do and all that shit."

"I know, but…" I bit my lower lip. "If I get involved he might think the wrong thing…like I'm trying to ruin his relationship or something."

Reno reached out a hand and ruffled my hair a bit. "You would never do that to someone, Teef. You're too nice. If you run the whole 'yeah, Elena really treats you like shit, you should do something about it' thing by him, you'll know if he's really a good friend if he listens."

"When did you get so serious, Reno?" I smiled.

"Comes with the package, doll face." He grinned wolfishly, the glanced up at the darkening sky. "Looks like rain. Come on, we should get going." He stood up, offered his hand down to me, and with a snort I took it and followed him off the track.


End file.
